"FRIENDSHIP SLOOP". Framed and matted print (#75 of 500) from original oil by Chapman Kelley. SIZE: 15.25" x 21". Chapman Kelley's love of the sea and sailing vessels is brilliantly evident in this glowing watercolor. He spent years aboard sailboats, studying their sleek forms and the patterns of water surrounding them. The bold colors and sparkling highlights of this painting capture a sunlit moment on a beautiful afternoon.

First recognized for his award-winning paintings of wild flowers, Chapman Kelley embarked on an entirely different direction in his career in the late 1960s. Mr. Kelley attended a talk on "Intuition" by Buckminster Fuller, and was so influenced by Fuller's metaphor comparing a sailboat to man's cooperation with nature, that he began a series of paintings on day sailers on Dallas' White Rock Lake. His next opportunity to paint sailboats came when he moved to Chicago. He observed some of the most graceful and glamorous wooden racers on Lake Michigan, From his vantage point on the committee boat, he was able to study and paint the famous likes of Scaramouche, Hope and Fame. When these paintings were seen by a sailing friend, Mr. Kelley was invited to study and paint with the Eggemoggen Reach Regatta, and to visit the Wooden Boat Show at Southwest Harbor in Maine. These visits to Maine produced some of the most lifelike and glorious paintings of classic vessels - Tioga, Ticonderoga, Brilliant and Free Spirit. On a subsequent trip, Mr. Kelley followed the schooner races, with equally spectacular results. He has won innumerbale awards, including being honored by the City of Chicago, and his paintings are in more than 1,000 public and private collections.